Cursive Writing for Woodwind Students

How to Keep Your Clarinet from Being a Pain in the Neck

Now that we’re a few months into the new school year, we’re noticing beginning band students who are learning their new instruments are struggling and experiencing some frustration. Some question whether they’ve chosen the wrong instrument? Others may secretly worry that they lack the talent to play successfully. And many just wonder why this all seems so difficult and feels so awkward?

Over the years, Andy and I, along with our music education peers, have noticed a troubling trend. Too many students seem to be struggling with the proper way to handle their instruments. We’ve noticed:

• Over gripping which strains the hands
• Under gripping which leads to dropping the instrument
• Students whose fingers are unable to cover holes or reach keys
• Pain in students’ arms, shoulders, necks, and backs from trying to support the instrument’s weight

Twenty years ago, these issues seemed nonexistent, which made us wonder … what’s changed?

Then and Now: What’s Changed?

One of the most impactful changes that has taken place in the past two decades is the adoption of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2005. Though well-intentioned, the Act altered the kinds of engagement children were experiencing in the classroom at a crucial time in the development of their fine motor and dexterity skills. 

Prior to NCLB’s standards and testing remake of the classroom, children in early grades had more time dedicated to art projects and handwriting skills incorporated into their daily lessons. In these pre-technology days when computers (if any) were found only in the school library or dedicated computer lab, kids completed all their assignments with pen or pencil and paper. Every subject had a dedicated textbook which were kept in desks or lockers. On an average day, a child would grab their textbook, flip through the pages, fiddle with their notebooks and writing tools, sharpen their pencils, create art with crayons or markers, use glue and paste, and fold, cut, or rip paper. Those little hands were really busy. In general, as a culture, we moved, lifted, and manipulated more things using our hands in those days.

Believe it or not, all of those activities readied a child for band or orchestra instruments. Few, if any, experienced pain in their arms, shoulders, necks, or backs from simply holding their instruments. When I witnessed this phenomenon increasing with one group of students, I demonstrated “Avenger Yoga” which taught them how to stretch before and after playing. This helped deal with the symptoms, but it didn’t address the cause. I did know that no 11-year-old should be experiencing physical pain from learning the clarinet. What could we do?

Pain Relief for a Floundering Flautist

Around that time, I was giving a young flute student a lesson and noticed she was over gripping her instrument so hard that it hurt my hands just watching her. I asked her to stop, then instructed her to pick up the pencil I’d placed on her music stand. I flattened out the music stand, turning it toward her and into a makeshift desk. I placed a piece of paper on it, and asked her to write. Write anything–her name, what she ate for breakfast–anything. 

She picked up the pencil and began. She held the pencil tucked deeply between her middle and ring finger with all her fingers tightly gripping it. The lines she produced were dark from pressing the tip down very hard and were not at all fluid or straight as she slowly forced them onto the page. Finally, when she set the pencil down, I noticed deep indentations and redness on her fingers from where she’d gripped the pencil. It looked very painful and I asked her how her fingers felt. They hurt, she told me. 

At that point, I picked up the pencil and showed her my grip. I printed words and wrote in cursive so she could see the difference between my writing and hers–light vs dark, straight vs wavy, fluid vs broken. I suggested a few modifications on her grip (which she claimed felt weird) and asked her to try writing again. This time her writing was relaxed and mildly improved. Eventually, the awkward grip sensation eased and the writing process became more comfortable and less painful. Then came her “ah ha” moment.

She picked up her flute again while I explained that she needed to find more ease by not giving the instrument the grip of death. I told her to trust that she could hold it securely and confidently with her muscles. She proceeded to play the basic scale that she did each day in band and noticed that it didn’t have to feel bad. That in fact, she could do this.

The reason it had been challenging up to that time was that her hands hadn’t been made ready.

How Cursive Handwriting Helps

I decided then that I was going to perform this exercise with more of my woodwind students. I undertook training to study Handwriting Without Tears and learned how to teach cursive handwriting!   I soon discovered that what my 5th graders needed they really should have started learning when they were in pre-K.

Even if a child is a terrible printer, sometimes cursive handwriting is the thing that helps them with all handwriting and they become better at cursive writing than printing. That makes me especially sad that teaching cursive handwriting has largely disappeared from our standardized curriculum. There are and have been a huge portion of students being underserved because they were never presented with this tool that would make more sense for their brains. 

When I shared my observations with other music educators it was like turning on a light they didn’t realize was off.  Of course their students’ hands were not ready. Teaching cursive writing is a very simple tool that can help with that.  

Of course, not all of our woodwind students will be offered cursive handwriting instruction.  But when we see the need, we do offer it, and as a result, we see great improvements in their success with the instrument they’ve chosen.  

What to Do If Your Student Struggles

I am always going to be a strong advocate for returning to art projects and cursive handwriting instruction in each and every classroom. Until then, if you have a student who is struggling with their band instrument, particularly with how they are holding it, how their fingers are moving, experience arm, shoulder, neck, and back pain, or seem unable to fully cover or reach their keys, let us know! We love helping students discover cursive handwriting, and we love talking to our music educator peers on how they can incorporate cursive handwriting into their music lessons to help their students succeed!

For more information about cursive handwriting instruction or any of our other teaching methods, feel free to reach out to us.